DMK, AIADMK richest regional parties: Report

Opposition DMK has amassed the highest income among all regional parties during the year 2015-16 earning a total of Rs. 77.63 crore, closely followed by the ruling AIADMK with Rs. 54.938 crore, a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) stated.

The income generated by the two Dravidian majors is around 60% of the total income generated by all regional parties. All the 32 regional parties amassed income of Rs 221.48 crore in 2015-16, of which 50 per cent of money was not spent, according to the report. 

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with Rs 15.978 crore had generated the third highest income. The report prepared by ADR, focuses on income and expenditure of regional parties, as submitted by the parties to the ECI.  The ADR report said 15 regional parties which have not submitted their audit reports to the EC till date include some of the major regional parties including Samajwadi Party, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian National Lok Dal, All India N R Congress, All India United Democratic Front, All Jharkhand Students Union and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. 

Three parties _ DMK, AIADMK and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) _ have more than 80 per cent of their income remaining unspent and 14 parties have reported incurring expenditure more than their total income.The report said out of 32 regional parties, only 18 parties made available the details of their I-T returns and donations statements.